Chapter 20: The Gala Again

The ballroom looked the same.

Same chandeliers, same four hundred chairs, same long white table with the prize on it.

Only I had changed.

I stood at the back in a black dress with my steel case in my hand.

Alessio's watch hung loose on my wrist.

Rocco's man had walked Gregory in at the side door at seven.

Gregory had not made a sound.

He wore a pale gray tuxedo, and a hand rested at his back, and he looked at nobody.

Alessio sat at the head table in the guest of honor's chair, his plate untouched.

The board chair rose from his seat beside him and tapped the microphone.

"Friends," he said. "We have had an unusual month."

A few people laughed, uneasily.

"The independent audit of the marrow program is not yet complete."

He cleared his throat.

"But the board has agreed that the Founders Prize should be presented tonight, so the chief of hematology may address his team."

Polite applause.

The white-haired woman at the second table did not clap.

"Dr. Schultz."

Gregory walked to the podium.

For a moment I thought he would say it.

I saw the sweat at his hairline.

I saw Alessio lean back and fold his arms.

Then Gregory found his smile again, and I understood what he had decided.

"Thank you," he said, warm and soft. "It is humbling to stand here after a month like this one."

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